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Is a Nose Just a Nose?

As I was watching chat the other evening I noticed a breeder talking about WK Big Cat fur and they said that one particular fur was “a dime a dozen” and I realized that he and other breeders were missing an important component of the furs…the nose.

Many breeders tend to overlook the nose. A Morocco is a Morocco, right? Wrong! Just saying Morocco does not tell you which fur you have. The full fur name would be something like “Morocco-RedBrick Nose”. Why does that matter? Let me explain.

Most breeds have several base furs. Let’s say there are 9 of them for the breed you are interested in. Couple that with 9 different noses and you have a total of 81 different furs for that breed. That is important to understand because the rarity calculator does not calculate the rarity based on “Morocco”, for example, but on the full fur name like “Morocco-RedBrick Nose”. This means that not all Morocco furs are created equal. Some will be rarer than others and may be worth more points on the rarity calculator.

Here’s another example for you. Everyone that breeds Bengal tigers knows that Kolar-GreyNose (trait value 4 currently) is the most common of the Bengal furs at this point. Even though it’s 1% of all the tigers it’s easily the most prevalent of the Bengal furs. However, Kolar-CoralNose (trait value 5) is not nearly as common and is still 0% of all tigers.

Remember, levels are no longer a part of the rarity calculator but fur is. Pay attention to nose when evaluating which furs to breed and improve the rarity of your cats. It should be as plain as the nose on your face.

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7 thoughts on “Is a Nose Just a Nose?”

It would be nice to see breeders a little less obsessed with levels– with more attention on breeding pretty cats. Color combinations, symmetry, balance. Those outcomes should be valued. Anyone can breed a high level cat – and fairly quickly- but some of the breeders who rush to get the highest levels in the least number of steps– their cats can be a bit freakish. That’s ok, if you’re into that. It takes much longer- but a high level cat with carefully chosen family traits- that’s a different game. But hey- I’m into cougars- we’re odd like that. Some of my favorite colors were traditionally “low level” but I came into this after fur was decoupled from level. I think there’s still a lot of bias against some fur colors based on the old rules. Thanks for posting this. Nose is important! I hate when noses and eyes clash…

Thank you so much for pointing little things like this out to everyone. It seems there are still so many people who look at NOTHING but the levels in the animals to determine their worth. This has made the secondary market prices crazy lately. It’s about time that WK breeders open their eyes and look at the big picture….If you go to any class, Jaed will tell you that without traits to go with those levels it’s only a half a cat. It’s true, personally I am going to buy a lower level cat with the traits that I’m looking for BEFORE I buy the highest level on the grid with 12 traits to breed with my cats. Keep in mind, you’re not WINNING the breedable game by having the highest level cats. You’re winning the game by having the cats that everyone ooh’s and aah’s over, that make you proud to have and can also sell for a good amount of money if you’re breeding to make a few extra L’s. I would love to see more posts like this 🙂

I’m just a small breeder, so it takes me awhile to work my way up the ranks .. and I’m grateful to those who share their beautifully-traited cats which they’ve worked hard to get! I personally don’t put any value into the levels of my cats, other than knowing I’ll sell quicker if there are levels to go with my traits. I find this rather sad to be honest. I have ALWAYS taken pride in working hard to breed those traits (and it seems harder these days as opposed to before the newest changes). That’s the first rule of thumb I remember hearing from Jaed when WK began — and just as she predicted, people went straight for “Any level you can breed, I can breed higher.” That’s fine – for them. I’m STILL content to breed for traits, and if the levels come with it awesome – if not, I have beauty on my side, and that’s what matters most to me.

That being said, I want to thank WK for all the time and effort they put into these cats and wolves. You guys are doing an awesome job (hope their will be some updates to the wolves soon!) and I’m proud to be a WK owner. Thank you for point out the more important focus – the little things that many don’t think of until it’s said.

Agreed!!!
If you have both, that’s just great, but without traits you have what everyone else has. Unfortunately a LOT of the “older” WK Breeders think the sun rises and sets on levels. Which is why there are so many half price patron auctions. They can’t sell them for good money on the market because it’s all about level. Levels are quite simple to acquire. Traits take work!! I don’t mean “random” traits, I mean an awesome, WOW combination of traits. I sell low levels for a much larger profit because they are unique. Besides that’s what makes it FUN…not see who can get the high level first lol but what you can make that is just WOW. So hopefully even some of the experienced breeders will read Jaed’s blog…and smack their foreheads lol!!